Tear it down, build a tunnel, make it a sky park ... here are 10 proposals, from mundane to wildly imaginative.

We have many options for tackling the Gardiner problem, some plausible, others the stuff to fill commuter daydreams.

Here are 10 of them:

1. Fix it: It will cost $505 million and take 10 years.

2. Sell it to the private sector: Councillor Adam Vaughan suggested this option, which means the highway could become tolled like Highway 407, the Lincoln Tunnel in New York or the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

4. Tear it down: A Waterfront Toronto proposal years ago recommended tearing down the eastern elevated section (from Jarvis to the DVP — one of the main sections now known to be at risk) at a cost of $300 million. Removing the central section could cost about $500 million.

5. Replace it with a tunnel: A popular suggestion touted since at least 1990. Doug Ford has suggested a three-level private-sector-constructed tunnel with tolls. The tunnel venture is often compared to Boston’s famed Big Dig — a construction that transformed the city’s historic heart but soon cost well beyond the expected $2.8 billion. The final cost may end up around $22 billion.

6. Build a waterfront viaduct: Seneca College civil engineering student Jose Gutierrez designed a plan to replace the Gardiner with a cable-stayed viaduct above the rail corridor, including transit, pedestrian and bike lanes.

7. Build an underwater expressway: The cost would beggar belief, but since it costs little to dream, the idea has been floated a few times — including a 1997 OCAD class project that proposed tunnelling beneath Humber Bay.

8. Make it a transit line/park: In his brief 2010 mayoral bid, Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti proposed a $1.3 billion plan to turn the Gardiner into a sky park with a train line surrounded by plants, plus bike and skating lanes. Traffic would go travel on an eight-lane Lake Shore Blvd., and it would all be paid for by road tolls, parking and a floating casino near Ontario Place

9. Sell the area underneath: The grim, dark areas beneath the Gardiner could become a space for shops and studios. In Baltimore and Sacramento, farmer’s markets are held regularly beneath their freeways.

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